YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ward Winning News al A pa
Vol. 11, No. 21
Including Surrounding Communities
www.thepress.net
Special day for special familes by Ruth Roberts Staff Writer Thousands of East County special-needs children and adults – along with their families – gathered at DeLuna Ranch in Brentwood recently for the 25th annual Lions Special Kids Day. The free event, hosted by the District 4C-3 Lions Club, was an opportunity for those with developmental and physical disabilities to meet, eat and enjoy a day created especially for them. “It was a beautiful event,” said Maggie DeLuna, who with husband Rene provided the venue for the Lions Club event. “Everyone (who attends) really feels they can relax and just enjoy everything. It’s a wonderful day.” The event included games for participants of all abilities, a petting zoo, karaoke, helicopter and motorcycle displays as well as photo opportunities with life-size see Special page 18A
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May 22, 2009
THIS WEEK
In memory of the fallen
Unfurl your flag, bring your binoculars and keep your eyes on the skies at the Memorial Day 2009 festivities.
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Photo by Richard Wisdom
Augie DeLuna gets a hug from grandmother Maggie DeLuna at the recent Lions Special Kids Day celebration held at DeLuna Ranch in Brentwood. The 25th annual event welcomed thousands of special needs children, adults and their families throughout East County.
Nailing the numbers Students striving for arithmetical achievement will be pitching their tents at math camp.
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Soft ball a hard target
Photo by Dave Roberts
The graffiti-laden trains that have been stored along Highway 4 in Antioch for a half year finally moved out of the area last weekend – but they could be back.
Graffiti trains gone, might return by Dave Roberts Staff Writer East County officials, who have been trying to run out of town on a rail scores of graffitiladen train cars, breathed a sigh of relief this week when the cars finally left over the weekend. The bad news is that they could be back. “This was an effort I led in Washington, D.C. and with the
CCC Mayors Conference as well as the Delta Six (committee),” said Antioch Mayor Jim Davis via e-mail regarding the trains leaving the Union Pacific Mococo Line in Antioch, where they moved in a half-year ago and were quite visible to motorists on Highway 4. But Union Pacific spokeswoman Zoey Richmond said that while company officials are aware of elected officials’ con-
cerns about the trains, the cars were moved because they were needed to haul freight for a customer. “That’s the reason why we have to keep these cars stored in various areas throughout our system,” said Richmond. “At a moment’s notice we can have a customer call us up needing to ship something, and we need to be ready to serve that business.” Although there are no cur-
Sound off!
rent plans to again store rail cars in East County, Union Pacific could do so at any time, despite concerns that have been voiced by community officials, she said. “We have around 60,000 rail cars in storage because of the slow economy,” she said. “From time to time the communities do complain about them being unsightly, being a little irritating. see Graffiti page 21A
The Lions had little success laying any lumber on a Falcon ace’s scorching pitches.
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